PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the ways of coping with stress and to explore the change in coping behaviors of adolescents with schizophrenia.BACKGROUND: Stress has been found to be highly associated with relapse, worsened symptoms, or rehospitalization of patients with schizophrenia. Consequently, coping with stress would be a crucial personal resource to manage mental illness in individuals with schizophrenia. Coping has been considered to mediate or moderate the potentially negative effects of stress on symptoms, augmenting traditional treatment of schizophrenia and thus influencing the course and outcome of the illness. Despite the substantial body of research linking stress to the course of schizophrenia, most of the research on coping behavior in schizophrenia has focused on adults with schizophrenia rather than adolescents with schizophrenia. METHODS: A total of 40 parents of adolescents with schizophrenia were drawn from a study of self-management therapy for youth with schizophrenia. The original study was a randomized, two-group, experimental design with repeated measures. Participants evaluated coping measured by the Ways of Coping (WOC) scale at baseline, 6 weeks, 30 weeks, and 54 weeks. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and Repeated Measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data.RESULTS: Of the 40 adolescent subjects, 32 were male, 8 were female. Their average age at baseline was 17.25 (SD=1.37) years; 22 (55%) were Caucasian and 18 (45%) were non-Caucasian. The mean length of illness was 43.47 (SD=43.21) months. Five coping domains were identified by cluster analysis: detachment coping (ôgo on as if nothingö), sleep coping (ôsleep more than usualö), self-confrontive coping (ôget angry at person causing problemö), active coping (ôtalk to someone about the problemö), and wishful thinking (ôdaydream or imagine a happier timeö). Sleep was most frequently endorsed by all subjects. Although we did not find any significant effect of time for total WOC, there was a significant main effect of time for sleep coping (F=2.71, p=0.053), indicating both groups decreased the use of sleep over time. We did not find a significant group effect, indicating no tendency toward the WOC and its subscales in either group (e.g. treatment or control group). IMPLICATIONS: Interestingly, sleep has been frequently used by adolescents with schizophrenia as a way of coping with stress. It is worthy to note that ways of coping in adolescence may become their ways of coping in their adulthood unless they learn new coping skills. Developing effective coping skills for adolescents with schizophrenia has important implications for practice as well as for future studies with this population.

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Language

dc.type

Presentation

en_GB

dc.title

COPING WITH STRESS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA

en_GB

dc.identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10755/157282

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dc.description.abstract

<table><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-title">COPING WITH STRESS IN ADOLESCENTS WITH SCHIZOPHRENIA</td></tr><tr class="item-sponsor"><td class="label">Conference Sponsor:</td><td class="value">Western Institute of Nursing</td></tr><tr class="item-year"><td class="label">Conference Year:</td><td class="value">2010</td></tr><tr class="item-author"><td class="label">Author:</td><td class="value">Lee, Heeyoung, PhD., PMHNP-BC</td></tr><tr class="item-institute"><td class="label">P.I. Institution Name:</td><td class="value">University of Pittsburgh</td></tr><tr class="item-author-title"><td class="label">Title:</td><td class="value">Assistant Professor</td></tr><tr class="item-address"><td class="label">Contact Address:</td><td class="value">415 Victoria Building, 3500 Victoria Street, Pittsburgh, PA, 15261, USA</td></tr><tr class="item-email"><td class="label">Email:</td><td class="value">leehee@pitt.edu</td></tr><tr class="item-co-authors"><td class="label">Co-Authors:</td><td class="value">Karen G. Schepp</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="item-abstract">PURPOSE: The purpose of this study is to identify the ways of coping with stress and to explore the change in coping behaviors of adolescents with schizophrenia.<br/>BACKGROUND: Stress has been found to be highly associated with relapse, worsened symptoms, or rehospitalization of patients with schizophrenia. Consequently, coping with stress would be a crucial personal resource to manage mental illness in individuals with schizophrenia. Coping has been considered to mediate or moderate the potentially negative effects of stress on symptoms, augmenting traditional treatment of schizophrenia and thus influencing the course and outcome of the illness. Despite the substantial body of research linking stress to the course of schizophrenia, most of the research on coping behavior in schizophrenia has focused on adults with schizophrenia rather than adolescents with schizophrenia. <br/>METHODS: A total of 40 parents of adolescents with schizophrenia were drawn from a study of self-management therapy for youth with schizophrenia. The original study was a randomized, two-group, experimental design with repeated measures. Participants evaluated coping measured by the Ways of Coping (WOC) scale at baseline, 6 weeks, 30 weeks, and 54 weeks. Descriptive statistics, cluster analysis, and Repeated Measures ANOVA were used to analyze the data.<br/>RESULTS: Of the 40 adolescent subjects, 32 were male, 8 were female. Their average age at baseline was 17.25 (SD=1.37) years; 22 (55%) were Caucasian and 18 (45%) were non-Caucasian. The mean length of illness was 43.47 (SD=43.21) months. Five coping domains were identified by cluster analysis: detachment coping (&ocirc;go on as if nothing&ouml;), sleep coping (&ocirc;sleep more than usual&ouml;), self-confrontive coping (&ocirc;get angry at person causing problem&ouml;), active coping (&ocirc;talk to someone about the problem&ouml;), and wishful thinking (&ocirc;daydream or imagine a happier time&ouml;). Sleep was most frequently endorsed by all subjects. Although we did not find any significant effect of time for total WOC, there was a significant main effect of time for sleep coping (F=2.71, p=0.053), indicating both groups decreased the use of sleep over time. We did not find a significant group effect, indicating no tendency toward the WOC and its subscales in either group (e.g. treatment or control group). <br/>IMPLICATIONS: Interestingly, sleep has been frequently used by adolescents with schizophrenia as a way of coping with stress. It is worthy to note that ways of coping in adolescence may become their ways of coping in their adulthood unless they learn new coping skills. Developing effective coping skills for adolescents with schizophrenia has important implications for practice as well as for future studies with this population.<br/></td></tr></table>

en_GB

dc.date.available

2011-10-26T19:43:52Z

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dc.date.issued

2011-10-17

en_GB

dc.date.accessioned

2011-10-26T19:43:52Z

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dc.description.sponsorship

Western Institute of Nursing

en_GB

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